Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,555,054 (the '054 patent) discloses a camera which can be loaded with a discrete filmstrip having an essentially arbitrary number of frames selected by a customer. The '054 patent also discloses methods of using such a camera. The disclosure of the '054 patent is hereby incorporated by reference into the present application. The filmstrip can be loaded into the camera through a slot in the body of the camera and scrolled within an unexposed film chamber. During use of the camera, a film advancing sprocket of the camera is used to move the film frame by frame to an exposed film chamber. After exposure, the film can be driven from the camera through the same slot used for loading or through a separate slot used only for unloading. Light-tight closures are provided for the load and unload slots.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,628,032; 5,630,178; 5,649,258; 5,655,155; and 5,675,835 disclose improved features of such cameras, plus a compact apparatus and methods useful for loading such cameras. The disclosures of these patents are hereby incorporated by reference into the present application. When the customer wishes to rent such a camera, the retailer places an empty camera in the apparatus, enters information about the customer and the number of frames selected by the customer, and then operates the apparatus to load the camera as instructed. After exposure of the filmstrip, the customer returns to the camera to the retailer, who places the camera in the apparatus where the filmstrip is removed and placed in a transfer cartridge for delivery to a film processor and printer.